The LedgerPublic Record
BooksThe BooksFloorThe FloorGavelThe GavelDeskThe DeskRaceThe Race
The LedgerPublic Record

Five shelves of federal record. Pick a shelf, then dig in.

Archives refreshed Aug 7, 2026

The Books

  • Overview
  • Rankings
  • Map
  • Historical
  • Awards
  • Composition

The Floor

  • Overview
  • Watchlist
  • Pipeline
  • Votes
  • Members

The Gavel

  • Overview
  • Docket
  • Opinions
  • Justices

The Desk

  • Overview
  • Presidencies
  • Actions

The Race

  • Overview
  • Map
  • Presidency
  • Senate
  • House

Guides

  • Overview
  • Start here
  • Students
  • Reporters
  • Tools

Reference

  • Home
  • Definitions
  • Methodology
  • Data integrity
  • Status
  • Data cache
  • Data dictionary
  • Usage
  • Privacy
  • Contact
  • For AI agents

Free and open. No accounts. Privacy covers anonymous visit data only. Usage covers how to cite and reuse the archives. Contact uses a private form.

  1. Home
  2. ›Definitions
  3. ›Presidency and the Desk
  4. ›Presidential memorandum

Presidency and the Desk

Presidential memorandum

Written presidential direction, often less formal than an EO.

What this means

Memoranda give presidential direction to agencies. They can be as consequential as orders in practice, but they follow different publication patterns. The Desk tracks curated examples with origin links.

Related

  • Executive order

    Presidential directive to the executive branch.

  • Federal Register

    Daily journal of federal rules, notices, and presidential documents.

All definitions · Methodology